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Former Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr.'s sentencing today on federal corruption charges appeared headed toward a delay or major disruption after letters released Wednesday night cast new doubts on the presiding judge's impartiality.

U.S. District Judge Edwin M. Kosik on Wednesday publicly disclosed a set of more than 30 letters written in connection with the case, including his responses to letters from Luzerne County residents upset with Ciavarella's original plea agreement, which called for an 81-month prison sentence.

In two of those responses, the 86-year-old Kosik wrote that he agreed with the letter writers, but that he could not allow his professional judgments to be guided by personal opinions alone.

"If personal opinions were our only guide, we are on the same page," Kosik wrote in a response dated March 2, 2009.

Ciavarella's lead attorney, Al Flora Jr., declined to comment when asked for his reaction to the letters. A source close to the defense said they were fuming and considering asking Kosik to remove himself from the case. Kosik's removal would likely delay Ciavarella's sentencing indefinitely.

According to a transcript of a pre-sentencing conference, Ciavarella could spend the rest of his life behind bars on racketeering, tax evasion and other charges.

Flora said he was not aware of the Kosik-authored responses until asked about them by reporters Wednesday evening. By that time, the court office in possession of the letters had closed, leaving Flora to rely on a newspaper transcript of Kosik's writings.

"We have never seen those, we didn't even know they existed," Flora said in a brief telephone interview Wednesday night. "We were not aware that Judge Kosik had written any letters to anyone relating to this case."

Kosik, in an order Wednesday, authorized the release of 30 of the nearly 200 letters he received since federal prosecutors first charged Ciavarella and former Judge Michael T. Conahan in January 2009 with pocketing $2.8 million to funnel juvenile offenders to a for-profit detention center.

Kosik said he would not release dozens of other letters because he has not "read or considered" them, and would not make public letters submitted by 17 victims through the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center, in deference to the organization's request for confidentiality. Kosik said the Juvenile Law Center letters would be available for review by Ciavarella's attorneys.

Among the correspondence read by Kosik and made public: letters from 15 juvenile victims or family members of juveniles; letters from Luzerne County District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll and Senior Judge Chester B. Muroski; and seven letters from outraged Luzerne County residents that prompted responses from Kosik.

The disclosure of Kosik's personal responses Wednesday appeared to widen the gulf between him and Ciavarella's defense, which has repeatedly challenged his impartiality.

Ciavarella's attorneys asked Kosik to remove himself from the case after he rejected the former judge's initial plea agreement, after he reviewed pre-sentence reports from federal probation officials that they said could have colored his rulings at trial, and after he made statements to The Citizens' Voice in July 2009 questioning whether Ciavarella had a "quid pro quo" agreement with one of the co-owners of the for-profit facility.

Flora asked for a mistrial during Ciavarella's trial in February after Kosik cut him off and criticized him from the bench for the third time in two days. In the responses released Wednesday, Kosik echoed the disdain for Ciavarella expressed in the letters he received following the former judge's February 2009 guilty plea.

In one of those letters, Robert J. Wojack, of Yatesville, wrote that the sentencing of Ciavarella and Conahan was of "paramount importance" and asked Kosik to "search the deepest veins of your soul and find reason not to let these two judges off lightly."

In his response, Kosik wrote: "My personal opinions are in complete sympathy with those you express. The only difference is that my personal beliefs cannot guide my responsibility and judgments."

Days later, Kosik expressed more personal opinions in a response to a letter from retired attorney, George A. Spohrer, of Dallas. Spohrer told Kosik that he had become "physically ill" when he heard about the plea agreement and urged a stiffer punishment.

"Thank you for your letter and frank expressions," Kosik replied. "If personal opinions were our only guide, we are on the same page."

"In 1949, when I first applied to law school, the Luzerne County Bench was first among county courts in Pennsylvania," Kosik continued. "What a fall!"

msisak@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2061

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